Black Fabric
 

I want to sash some multi-colored (some are light) blocks with black fabric. Someone recently suggested that using a poly cotton fabric would be less likely to bleed and would not be as likely to fade. This is a child's quilt, so it will be washed a lot, I'm sure.

Usually, I would buy Kona at JoAnn's, but it's been all over the map lately. It's definitely not the same fabric every time I buy it. This is a donation quilt, so I don't want to buy this at the LQS.

The idea of using a fabric that would be less likely to fade or bleed appeals to me. The other fabrics are 100% cotton.

What do you think?

bkay

I no longer use poly cotton blends because I can't stand the smell when I iron them but I did use them in the first few quilts I made. One was a baby quilt that had every level of fabric in it from the $1 a yard Walmart fabrics that are poly/cotton blends to high end quilt shop fabrics in it. That quilt is almost 10 years old, still being used, and still in one piece. The only thing I would caution is to lower the temp of your iron when pressing poly blend fabric.

Cari

I use the Kona black, the Robert Kaufman one. I'm not sure if that's what they have at Joann's. I've made several quilts using it. It didn't bleed when I washed it and it's stayed nice and dark.

Thanks Cari, Tartan and Doggramma.

Yes, Doggramma, it is supposed to be the same fabric anywhere you buy it. However, the last few times I've bought it, it has been different from the last time I bought it. One time it had a texture almost like knitted fabric. I sent a sample to Kaufman to confirm that it was Kona. They said it wasn't Kona and take it back to Hobby Lobby. The next time I bought it, it looked and felt right. The last time I bought it, it was coarse and off color and did not match, even closely, the previous fabric.

So, I'm not buying any more Kona black. That's the reason for the question. I have to buy some kind of black fabric and don't want one that bleeds and fades. I have no idea what I would get this time labeled Kona.

bkay

Joanne’s calls all of their Solids Kona- as if Kona means solid. They are Not Kaufman Kona Cottons. Joanne’s comes from China. The end of the bolt tells that.

Cotton/ poly blends are great for kids quilts. They withstand lots of use and laundering, they don’t shrink, bleed or fade.

So I'm not the only one that smells the smell from poly/cotton fabrics! I don't use them anymore, either.

The last time I purchased solid fabric at JoAnns I was so disappointed in it I took it to Goodwill. You could hold it up and see right thru the dark green. Since then Ive been getting my solids, and I use a lot of black, from Missouri Quilt company. Very happy with them.

Kona fabric is not the same as Robert Kaufman Kona, JoAnns carry Kona in our town.

I think you are mistaken. It's said over and over again that some Kona fabric is not Kona fabric. I personally spoke with the Robert Kaufman representative on the phone. He called me to tell me the fabric I sent was not Kona. He told me they sold to both Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's. He promised to look into the problem with the "not kona" fabric labeled as Kona.

Kona is a registered trademark for fabric sold by Robert Kaufman Companies. No one else can use it for fabric. To do so would be a trademark infringement and the perpetrator would be subject to criminal penalties.

Kaufman appears to use the Kona trademark for solid colors only. There is a company called Kona Bay fabrics. It seems to be a small company. The only Kona Bay fabrics I've seen are prints.

What bothers me about this often repeated story is that JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby end up being the bad guys in the consumer's mind. That is just not true and not fair to those companies. Kaufman either has lost control of their distribution system or is not selling what they claim to be selling to those companies.

In reality, if JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby were using the Kona trademark on non-Kaufman fabric, they would be sued for big bucks immediately.

(Can you tell this ugly situation really bothers me?)

bkay